Transferring content to a substantially similar location in a virtual notebook using a stylus enabled device

ABSTRACT

A device comprising a magnetic stylus, touch sensor, and reflective display provides new opportunities for content presentation and interaction. A user interface is configured to use input from the touch sensor, the stylus, and one or more magnetometers to modify content presented on the reflective display. This modification may include generating a virtual notebook comprising clippings of content.

RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is related to U.S. application Ser. No.12/846,539, filed on Jul. 29, 2010, entitled “Magnetic TouchDiscrimination.” This pending application is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety. This application also hereby incorporates byreference in its entirety U.S. application Ser. No. 13/247,412, filed onSep. 28, 2011, entitled “Magnetic Stylus.”

BACKGROUND

Electronic devices that accept input from users are ubiquitous, andinclude cellular phones, eBook readers, tablet computers, desktopcomputers, portable media devices, and so forth. Increasingly, usersdesire these devices to accept input without the use of traditionalkeyboards or mice.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description is set forth with reference to the accompanyingfigures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference numberidentifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. Theuse of the same reference numbers in different figures indicates similaror identical items.

FIG. 1 depicts an electronic device configured to accept input via atouch sensor, a magnetic stylus, and one or more magnetometers.

FIG. 2 is an illustrative schematic of the electronic device with aninput module configured to use the touch sensor, the magnetic stylus,and the one or more magnetometers to accept user input.

FIG. 3 depicts a user underlining text presented on a display with astylus and presenting a processed underline.

FIG. 4 depicts an alternative gesture for underlining text presented onthe display.

FIG. 5 depicts removing an underline with the stylus using an erasuregesture.

FIG. 6 is an illustrative process of presenting a processed underline.

FIG. 7 depicts a user selecting clip content and creating a virtualnotebook containing the clip content.

FIG. 8 depicts selecting an image as part of the clip content byunderlining an image caption.

FIG. 9 is an illustrative process of generating a virtual notebookcontaining clip content.

FIG. 10 depicts a thumbnail navigation view of the virtual notebook.

FIG. 11 is an illustrative process of navigating in the virtual notebookvia the thumbnail view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

Described herein are devices and techniques for accepting input in anelectronic device. These devices may include a touch sensor, magneticstylus containing a magnet, and one or more magnetic field sensors. Bygenerating information from the magnetic field sensors about theposition, orientation, tilt, rotation, and so forth of the magneticstylus relative to the device, the described devices and techniquesenable rich input modes alone or in combination with one another.Information may be presented to a user by a display device, such as areflective electrophoretic display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), alight-emitting diode (LED) display, or the like.

Users may annotate content presented on the display by underlining orotherwise selecting a portion of the content. These handwrittenunderlines or other selection gestures may be processed intomachine-generated shapes (e.g., straight lines under the text that wasaround, a perfect circle around a piece of text that a user has circled,etc.). The processed underlines may be configured to snap to proximateletters, words, sentences, paragraphs, and so forth. These underlines orother annotative marks may be added or removed without affecting theunderlying content presented on the display.

Users may also create virtual notebooks based at least in part oncontent presented on the device. A user may select clip content, such asby underlining or otherwise selecting this content. In response, theclip content is copied or otherwise transferred to a virtual notebookpage. During this transfer, a clip location indicating the relative orabsolute position of the clip content on the page is maintained. Whenpresented in the virtual notebook page, the clip content is presented inthe same clip location. Therefore, if a user selects a paragraph at thetop of a page as a clip content, the device may render this same clipcontent at the top of the virtual notebook page in the same position. Ininstances where the display of the device comprises an electronic paperdisplay, the device may even continue to render the clip content whilecreating (i.e., rendering) the virtual notebook around this selectedclip content. In some instances, an image or graphic may be selected forclipping by selecting an associated caption.

The virtual notebook may be accessible from a variety devices. Thenotebook may be associated with several pieces of content, or may beassociated with a particular piece of content. For example, one virtualnotebook may contain clippings from web pages, eBooks, and so forthwhile another virtual notebook may only contain clippings from aparticular eBook.

A thumbnail view of a plurality of virtual notebook pages may bepresented to aid in navigation between the pages of the virtualnotebook. By providing thumbnail images where the relative positions onthe page of the clippings have been retained, the user is able toreadily use spatial memory to select a particular page of the notebook.

Illustrative Device

FIG. 1 depicts an electronic device 100 configured with a touch sensor,magnetometer, and other sensors. A touch sensor 102 accepts inputresulting from contact and/or application of incident force, such as auser finger or stylus pressing upon the touch sensor. While the touchsensor 102 is depicted on the front of the device, it is understood thatother touch sensors 102 may be disposed along the other sides of thedevice instead of, or in addition to, the touch sensor on the front. Adisplay 104 is configured to present information to the user. In someimplementations, the display 104 and the touch sensor 102 may becombined to provide a touch-sensitive display, or touchscreen display.

Within or coupled to the device, an input module 106 accepts input fromthe touch sensor 102 and other sensors. For example, FIG. 1 illustratesa broken line representing a user touch 108 on the touch sensor 102.FIG. 1 also depicts a stylus 110 having two opposing terminalstructures, a stylus tip 112 and a stylus end 114. The stylus tip 112 isshown in contact with the touch sensor 102 as indicated by the stylustouch 116. In some implementations, the stylus tip 112 may be configuredto be non-marking such that operates free from depositing a visibletrace of material such as graphite, ink, or other material.

Returning to the sensors within the device 100, one or moremagnetometers 118 are accessible to the input module 106. Thesemagnetometers are configured to detect and in some implementationscharacterize impinging magnetic fields. One or more orientation sensors120 such as accelerometers, gravimeters, and so forth may also bepresent. These sensors are discussed in more detail next with regards toFIG. 2.

The device 100 may further include an application module 122. Theapplication module 122 is configured to interact with other elementssuch as the input module 106 to provide functions such as the userinterface, underlining, generating a virtual notebook, and so forth.

FIG. 2 is an illustrative schematic 200 of the electronic device 100 ofFIG. 1. In a very basic configuration, the device 100 includescomponents such as a processor 202 and one or more peripherals 204coupled to the processor 202. Each processor 202 may itself comprise oneor more processors.

An image processing unit 206 is shown coupled to one or more displaycomponents 104 (or “displays”). In some implementations, multipledisplays may be present and coupled to the image processing unit 206.These multiple displays may be located in the same or differentenclosures or panels. Furthermore, one or more image processing units206 may couple to the multiple displays.

The display 104 may present content in a human-readable format to auser. The display 104 may be reflective, emissive, or a combination ofboth. Reflective displays utilize incident light and includeelectrophoretic displays, interferometric modulator displays,cholesteric displays, and so forth. Emissive displays do not rely onincident light and, instead, emit light. Emissive displays includebacklit liquid crystal displays (LCDs), time multiplexed optical shutterdisplays, light emitting diode (LED) displays, and so forth. Whenmultiple displays are present, these displays may be of the same ordifferent types. For example, one display may be an electrophoreticdisplay while another may be a liquid crystal display. The display 104may be color or monochrome.

For convenience only, the display 104 is shown in FIG. 1 in a generallyrectangular configuration. However, it is understood that the display104 may be implemented in any shape, and may have any ratio of height towidth. Also, for stylistic or design purposes, the display 104 may becurved or otherwise non-linearly shaped. Furthermore the display 104 maybe flexible and configured to fold or roll.

The content presented on the display 104 may take the form of user inputreceived when the user draw, writes, otherwise manipulates controls suchas with the stylus. The content may also include electronic books or“eBooks.” For example, the display 104 may depict the text of the eBooksand also any illustrations, tables, or graphic elements that might becontained in the eBooks. The terms “book” and/or “eBook”, as usedherein, include electronic or digital representations of printed works,as well as digital content that may include text, multimedia, hypertext,and/or hypermedia. Examples of printed and/or digital works include, butare not limited to, books, magazines, newspapers, periodicals, journals,reference materials, telephone books, textbooks, anthologies,instruction manuals, proceedings of meetings, forms, directories, maps,web pages, and so forth. Accordingly, the terms “book” and/or “eBook”may include any readable or viewable content that is in electronic ordigital form.

The device 100 may have an input device controller 208 configured toaccept input from a keypad, keyboard, or other user actuable controls210. These user actuable controls 210 may have dedicated or assignableoperations. For instance, the actuable controls may include page turningbuttons, a navigational keys, a power on/off button, selection keys,joystick, touchpad, and so on.

The device 100 may also include a USB host controller 212. The USB hostcontroller 212 manages communications between devices attached to auniversal serial bus (“USB”) and the processor 202 and otherperipherals.

FIG. 2 further illustrates that the device 100 includes a touch sensorcontroller 214. The touch sensor controller 214 couples to the processor202 via the USB host controller 212 (as shown). In otherimplementations, the touch sensor controller 214 may couple to theprocessor via the input device controller 208, inter-integrated circuit(“I²C”), universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (“UART”), or serialperipheral interface bus (“SPI”), or other interfaces. The touch sensorcontroller 214 couples to the touch sensor 102. In some implementationsmultiple touch sensors 102 may be present.

The touch sensor 102 may comprise various technologies includinginterpolating force-sensing resistance (IFSR) sensors, capacitive,magnetic, force sensitive resistors, acoustic, optical, and so forth.The touch sensor 102 may be configured such that user input throughcontact or gesturing relative to the device 100 may be received.

The touch sensor controller 214 is configured to determinecharacteristics of interaction with the touch sensor. Thesecharacteristics may include the location of the touch on the touchsensor, magnitude of the force, shape of the touch, and so forth. Insome implementations, the touch sensor controller 214 may provide someor all of the functionality provided by the input module 106, describedbelow.

The magnetometer 118 may couple to the USB host controller 212, oranother interface. The magnetometer 118, allows for the detection andcharacterization of an impinging magnetic field. For example, themagnetometer 118 may be configured to determine a field strength,angular bearing, polarity of the magnetic field, and so forth. In someimplementations, the magnetometer may comprise a Hall-effect device.Magnetic fields, particularly in the environment within which electronicdevices operate, are predictable and well understood. As a result, itbecomes possible to use one or more magnetometers to determine presenceand in some implementations the position, orientation, rotation, and soforth of the magnetic stylus. A plurality of magnetometers 118 may beused in some implementations.

One or more orientation sensors 120 may also be coupled to the USB hostcontroller 212, or another interface. The orientation sensors 120 mayinclude accelerometers, gravimeters, gyroscopes, proximity sensors, andso forth. Data from the orientation sensors 120 may be used at least inpart to determine the orientation of the user relative to the device100. Once an orientation is determined, input received by the device maybe adjusted to account for the user's position. For example, when theuser is holding the device in a portrait orientation the left and rightedges of the touch sensor the input module 106 designates these areas aslikely holding touch areas. Thus, touches within those areas biased infavor of being categorized as holding touches, rather than inputtouches.

The USB host controller 212 may also couple to a wireless module 216 viathe universal serial bus. The wireless module 216 may allow forconnection to wireless local or wireless wide area networks (“WWAN”).Wireless module 216 may include a modem 218 configured to send andreceive data wirelessly and one or more antennas 220 suitable forpropagating a wireless signal. In other implementations, the device 100may include a wired network interface.

The device 100 may also include an external memory interface (“EMI”) 222coupled to external memory 224. The EMI 222 manages access to datastored in external memory 224. The external memory 224 may compriseStatic Random Access Memory (“SRAM”), Pseudostatic Random Access Memory(“PSRAM”), Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (“SDRAM”), DoubleData Rate SDRAM (“DDR”), Phase-Change RAM (“PCRAM”), or othercomputer-readable storage media.

The external memory 224 may store an operating system 226 comprising akernel 228 operatively coupled to one or more device drivers 230. Thedevice drivers 230 are also operatively coupled to peripherals 204, suchas the touch sensor controller 214. The external memory 224 may alsostore data 232, which may comprise content objects for consumption oneBook reader device 100, executable programs, databases, user settings,configuration files, device status, and so forth. Executableinstructions comprising an input module 106 may also be stored in thememory 224. The input module 106 is configured to receive data from thetouch sensor controller 214 and generate input strings or commands. Insome implementations, the touch sensor controller 214, the operatingsystem 226, the kernel 228, one or more of the device drivers 230, andso forth, may perform some or all of the functions of the input module106.

One or more batteries 234 provide operational electrical power tocomponents of the device 100 for operation when the device isdisconnected from an external power supply. The device 100 may alsoinclude one or more other, non-illustrated peripherals, such as a harddrive using magnetic, optical, or solid state storage to storeinformation, a firewire bus, a Bluetooth™ wireless network interface,camera, global positioning system, PC Card component, and so forth.

Couplings, such as that between the touch sensor controller 214 and theUSB host controller 212, are shown for emphasis. There are couplingsbetween many of the components illustrated in FIG. 2, but graphicalarrows are omitted for clarity of illustration.

Illustrative User Interface

1. FIG. 3 depicts a user underlining text presented on a display with astylus and presenting a processed underline. Users may annotateinformation presented on the display 104 of the device with underlines.As shown here, in a first mode 302 a user interface module 304 isconfigured to present part of an eBook and respond to user inputs. Here,the user has made an underline gesture to form a raw underline 306,drawing lines underneath text for particular emphasis. The raw underlinein some implementations comprises an underline generated prior toremoval of contact of a finger, the stylus 110, or other instrument fromthe touch sensor 102 during the underline gesture. In this example, theuser has underlined by hand the words “the Senate may propose or concurwith Amendments as on other Bills.”

The user interface module 304 may be configured to process and clean upthese user inputs. As shown here, in the second mode 308 the userinterface module 304 has removed the raw underline 306 from the display104 and replaced it with a processed underline 310. In someimplementations, the processed underline comprises an underlinegenerated by the user interface module 304 after removal of contact of afinger, the stylus 110, or other instrument from the touch sensor 102.This processing thus assists the user in generating tidy annotations, aswell as unambiguously underlining particular portions of the presentedcontent. As described below with regards to FIG. 8, these underlines maybe used to provide for or initiate other functions such as selectingcontent for clipping and placement into a virtual notebook.

FIG. 4 depicts an alternative gesture for underlining text present onthe display. Blocks of content such as several lines or entireparagraphs of text may be selected by using other gestures. As shownhere, in a first mode 402 the text of an eBook is presented with amulti-line select gesture 404 comprising a line drawn vertical relativeto the orientation of text on the page. The user interface module 304may be configured to recognize this multi-line select gesture 404 as aninput to select the proximate text.

As a result, as shown in the second mode 406, the user interface module304 has generated a processed underline 408 corresponding to thegesture. As shown in this example, the underline starts one word earliercompared to the prior example in FIG. 3. In response to the multi-lineselect gesture 404, the system may be configured to highlight the entireline as shown here, highlight entire sentences which extend into thehighlighted area, and so forth.

FIG. 5 depicts removing an underline with the stylus 110. Just as thestylus 110 in conjunction with the touch sensor 102 may be used togenerate underlines, these underlines may be removed. Here, in a firstmode 502 the user has made an erasure gesture 504. This erasure gesture504 may comprise placement of the stylus end 114 proximate to the touchsensor 102 and drawing the stylus end 114 along the surface of the touchsensor 102 in a line generally corresponding to at least a portion ofthe existing underline.

The user interface module 304, detecting this erasure gesture 504, asshown in a second mode 506 has removed a portion of the underline. Theunderlying text remains unaffected. The user interface module 304 mayreceive the erasure gesture via the input module 106 which may providethe location and orientation of the stylus 110, as well as touch inputfrom the touch sensor 102.

The processes in this disclosure may be implemented by the architecturesdescribed in this disclosure, or by other architectures. These processesdescribed in this disclosure are illustrated as a collection of blocksin a logical flow graph, which represent a sequence of operations thatcan be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. Inthe context of software, the blocks represent computer-executableinstructions that may be stored on one or more computer-readable storagemedia and that, when executed by one or more processors, perform therecited operations. Generally, computer-executable instructions includeroutines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and the likethat perform particular functions or implement particular abstract datatypes. The order in which the operations are described is not intendedto be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described blockscan be combined in any order or in parallel to implement the processes.

FIG. 6 is an illustrative process 600 of presenting a processedunderline. This process may be used by the user interface module 304 insome instances. At 602, content is presented on the display. Forexample, an eBook may be presented on an reflective electrophoreticdisplay or any other type of display.

At 604, an underline input gesture is received via input from the touchsensor 102 and the one or more magnetometers 118 detecting the magneticfield from the magnetic stylus 110. The touch sensor 102 provides X-Ycoordinates on the touch sensor 102, and may provide other informationsuch as shape of the touch, area of the touch, pressure of the touch,and so forth. The magnet within the stylus 110 generates a magneticfield which is detectable by the one or more magnetometers 118. Anorientation of the stylus 110 relative to the touch sensor may bedetermined by detecting the polarity of this magnetic field, allowingfor distinction between which end of the stylus 110 is in contact withthe touch sensor 102. For example, the stylus tip 112 may be determinedto be in contact with the touch sensor 102 proximate to words on thedisplay via data from the magnetometer 118 and the data from the touchsensor 102. As described above, the touch sensor 102 may comprisevarious technologies including interpolating force-sensing resistance(IFSR) sensors, capacitive, magnetic, force sensitive resistors,acoustic, optical, and so forth.

At 606, a processed underline associated with words proximate to theinput gesture is presented. Continuing the example, the irregularhand-drawn line presented on the display 104 in FIG. 3 may be replacedwith a straight horizontal line under the text. The processed underlineresults in a cleaner display of information, as well as providing anunambiguous selection which may be used for other functions, such asclipping as described below.

FIG. 7 depicts a user selecting clip content and creating a virtualnotebook containing the clip content. Users may create virtual notebooksbased at least in part on content presented on the device. As shownhere, in a first mode 702 the user interface module 304 is presentingtext including clip content 704 at a clip location 706. The clip content704 comprises those words which have been selected, such as byunderlining shown here and as described above. In other implementationsother gestures may indicate clip content, such as drawing a box orcircle around desired content, bracketing content, and so forth. Theclip content 704 may comprise the text, formatting, color, backgroundimage, page layout, graphics, and so forth associated with theselection. In some implementations the clip content 704 may includecontextual information such as data about surrounding text, overall pagelayout, user interface parameters available at the time of selection,and so forth.

Users may underline or otherwise select several different parts of thecontent. In some implementations, the user interface module may beconfigured to merge two sets of underlines and corresponding clippingswhen within a pre-determined distance of one another. For example,underlines which are within one word of one another may be merged.Likewise, a single underline or clipping may be separated into two ormore sets of underlines and clippings, such as by deleting a portion ofthe underline. The sequence of selection of underlines when joining orthe direction of a gesture when splitting may be configured to determinehow to present related clippings. For example, a selection of anunderline on the right followed by a line connecting to an underline onthe left may be configured to remove an individual clipping from thecontent on the left and merge it with an individual clipping for thecontent on the right. In another implementation, merged clipping mayremain separately displayed within the virtual notebook while a linkwithin the virtual notebook between the two clippings is provided.

In one implementation, the user may access the virtual notebook bytapping the touch sensor 102 with the stylus 110 on the underlined clipcontent 704. The virtual notebook is shown here in a second mode 708 asgenerated by the user interface module 304 on the device 100.

In the second mode 708, the virtual notebook presents the clip content704 in the same clip location 706 on the display 104. This location maybe relative (such as ⅓ from the top of the displayed page) or absolute(such as start at pixel row 183, column 27). The clip content 704 may beconfigured to retain its overall appearance such as font, size, color,background, and so forth when in the virtual notebook.

Humans recognize information by physical arrangement as well as bycontent. As a result, placement of the clip content at the same cliplocation in the virtual notebook aids the user in finding particularcontent. For example, the user may not know exactly what the text tosearch for, but may recall that the clip content of interest was locatedat about the middle of the page. As a result, the user may locate pagesby the physical arrangement.

in addition, by presenting the clip location 706 at the same location,distraction to the user is minimized during transitions between viewingcontent and viewing the notebook. Furthermore, with some displaytechnologies maintaining the position of clip content at the cliplocation may improve the user experience. For example, cholestericdisplays may produce some ghosting during transition between presentedimages. By maintaining the clip content in the same location, for theclipped content no transition occurs, thus such ghosting may beminimized.

Virtual notebooks may be associated with a particular set of devices,device, user, piece of content, and so forth. For example, a virtualnotebook may be configured to be associated with a particular useraccessing a particular eBook. Or that particular user may have a virtualnotebook used for a plurality of different pieces of content, such asseveral eBooks.

In some implementations, the content may be presented on a first devicewhile the virtual notebook may be presented on a second device. Thedevices may communicate with one another, such as via the wireless model216.

FIG. 8 depicts selecting an image as part of the clip content byunderlining an image caption. Content may include images or graphicssuch as pictures, charts, video, and so forth. The user may wish to clipthese images or graphics and place them in the virtual notebook.

As shown here, in a first mode 802 the user interface module 304presents an eBook having an image/graphic 804 of George Washington. Asillustrated, the image/graphic 804 has a corresponding caption 806. Theuser may underline or otherwise select the caption and other text asshown here as part of clip content 808.

A second mode 810 depicts the device presenting the virtual notebookwhich includes the George Washington image/graphic 804, caption 806, andcorresponding text which together comprises the clip content 808 forthis clipping. The image/graphic 804 and caption 806 may be associatedwith one another via relative placement, embedded coding within thecontent, and so forth. As described above, the clip location ismaintained with the clip content 808 in the clipping.

In another implementation, a user may select the image/graphic 804 byunderlining or otherwise selecting a reference to the image/graphic 804which appears elsewhere within the topic. For example, a userunderlining the phrase “ . . . the graph shown in figure A clearly showseconomic effects . . . ” would select the underlined text as well as thereferenced figure.

FIG. 9 is an illustrative process 900 of generating a virtual notebookcontaining clip content. At 902, content is presented on the display104. For example, an eBook may be presented on the reflectiveelectrophoretic display or any other type of display.

At 904, a selection of a portion of the content on the display 104 isreceived. This selection may be received via data from the touch sensor102, the one or more magnetometers 118 detecting the magnetic field ofthe stylus 110, or other input devices as clip content. For example, theuser may underline at least a portion of the content using the tip ofthe stylus.

At 906, the clip content (or a copy thereof) is transferred to thevirtual notebook while retaining a position of the clip content aspresented on the display initially. As mentioned above, this positionmay be relative or absolute. In some implementations other informationsuch as formatting, background images, contextual information such asuser interface parameters, and so forth may be included.

At 908, at least a portion of the virtual notebook is presentedincluding the clip content at the retained position. Continuing theexample, the position of the figure of George Washington is presented inthe same spot on the display 104 during the virtual notebook view aswhen presented in the eBook.

At 910, user annotations of the virtual notebook are received. Theseannotations may be received via the touch sensor 102, the one or moremagnetometers 118 detecting the magnetic field from the stylus 110, orother input devices. For example, the user may make handwrittenannotations, draw explanatory figures, erase notes, and so forth withthe stylus 110.

FIG. 10 depicts a thumbnail navigation view of the virtual notebook. Asmentioned above, the virtual notebook maintains the position ofclippings as presented prior to clipping. This may result in virtualnotebook pages with a variety of different layouts. Even when the textis too small to be readable when forming a portion of a thumbnail image,or has been replaced by simpler elements such as rectangles or lines(also known as “greeking”) the user may be able to find a particularpoint in the notebook based on the physical arrangement of the page.

Here, the user interface module 304 is operating in a first mode 1002 ofdisplaying a page of an eBook, and receives a text shortcut 1004 via thetouch sensor 102, the stylus 110, and the one or more magnetometers 118.This text shortcut 1004 comprises the handwritten text “nb” which may bepre-configured in the user interface module 304 to initiate opening ofthe notebook.

As shown in a second mode 1006, a thumbnail view may be presented inresponse to the text shortcut. A plurality of thumbnails 1008 may beshown, each providing a representation of a different page or set ofpages within the virtual notebook. The thumbnails may be represented invarious fidelities. For example, a high fidelity representation maycomprise a reduced size image which contains the data of the full sizeimage. A medium fidelity representation may comprise thumbnails wheresmaller text below a pre-determined size threshold has been replacedwith blocks or lines (greeked). A low fidelity representation may be onein which all text is greeked and images are roughly sampled. The levelof fidelity may be user selected, determined by processing or displayconstraints, or a combination thereof.

By viewing the plurality of thumbnails, the user may be able to quicklyfind a particular notebook page. By selecting the particular thumbnail,such as by tapping on it with the stylus 110, or encircling it with aline from the stylus 110, the user may select that thumbnail to beopened on the display 104.

FIG. 11 is an illustrative process 1100 of navigating in the virtualnotebook via the thumbnail view. At 1102, a command is received topresent a thumbnail view of the virtual notebook on the display. Forexample, the command may comprise the handwritten “nb” text shortcut.This command may be received by the input module 106 from the touchsensor 102, the one or more magnetometers 118 detecting the magneticfield of the stylus 110, and so forth.

At 1104, thumbnails associated with at least a portion of the virtualnotebook are accessed. For example, the thumbnails corresponding to aportion of the eBook current displayed may be retrieved from memory orgenerated.

At 1106, the thumbnails are presented on the display 104. At 1108, inputis received selecting a particular thumbnail. As above, this input maybe received by the input module 106 from the touch sensor 102, the oneor more magnetometers 118 detecting the magnetic field of the stylus110, and so forth. At 1110, the particular thumbnail is presented at apre-determined size on the display 104. For example, the selectedthumbnail may be presented at full or half its full size.

CONCLUSION

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather,the specific features and acts are disclosed as illustrative forms ofimplementing the claims. For example, the methodological acts need notbe performed in the order or combinations described herein, and may beperformed in any combination of one or more acts.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device comprising: a processor; memory coupledto the processor; a touch sensor coupled to the processor; a reflectivedisplay coupled to the processor and configured to render at least aportion of an item of content; and a user interface module stored in thememory and executable by the processor to: detect an underline inputgesture via the touch sensor, the underline input gesture selecting aword of the item of content being rendered on the display, the wordbeing displayed at a first location on the display; at least partly inresponse to detecting the underline input gesture: present a rawunderline underneath the word; and present a processed underlineunderneath the word after presenting the raw underline; detect anerasure input gesture via the touch sensor, the erasure input gesturecorresponding to the processed underline; and at least partly inresponse to detecting the erasure input gesture; remove from the displaya portion of the processed underline; and transfer the portion of theprocessed underline directly to a location on a page in a virtualnotebook, wherein the location on the page in the virtual notebook issubstantially similar to the first location on the display.
 2. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the touch sensor comprises an interpolatingforce-sensing resistance sensor and the reflective display comprises anelectrophoretic display.
 3. The device of claim 1, wherein the underlineinput gesture selects a portion of the word that is less than theentirety of the word, and the presenting of the processed underlinecomprises snapping the raw underline to the entirety of the word.
 4. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the underline input gesture selects one ormore letters, and the presenting of the processed underline comprisessnapping the raw underline to the one or more letters.
 5. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the underline input gesture comprises a user placing astylus tip of a stylus in contact with the touch sensor and theprocessed underline results in a machine-generated underline rendered onthe reflective display underneath the word.
 6. The device of claim 1,wherein the underline input gesture comprises a user drawing a line witha stylus along a portion of a vertical margin on the reflective displayand the word is adjacent to the portion of the vertical margin.
 7. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the user interface module is furtherconfigured to merge two sets of underlines when the two sets ofunderlines are within a pre-determined distance of one another.
 8. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the user interface module is furtherconfigured to separate into two sets of underlines a previously singleunderline.
 9. The device of claim 1, wherein the raw underline comprisesan underline generated prior to removal of contact with the touchsensor.
 10. The device of claim 1, further comprising: one or moremagnetometers disposed about the device and coupled to the processor; amagnetic stylus configured with a magnetic field detectable to the oneor more magnetometers; and the user interface module stored in thememory and executable by the processor further configured to: furtherdetect the underline input gesture via the input from the one or moremagnetometers detecting the magnetic field of the magnetic stylus. 11.The device of claim 1, wherein the touch sensor comprises at least oneor more magnetometers, the one or more magnetometers being coupled tothe processor to detect a magnetic field associated with the display.12. One or more non-transitory computer readable media comprisinginstructions, which when executed by one or more processors, cause theone or more processors to: present at least a portion of an item ofdigital content on a display; detect an input gesture corresponding to aword of the digital content being rendered on the display, the wordbeing in a first location on the display; determine a proximity of afirst end of a stylus to the display based on a magnetic field generatedby the stylus; present a raw underline on the display underneath theword; copy the word automatically to a first location on a page in avirtual notebook, wherein the first location on the page in the virtualnotebook corresponds to a substantially similar location to the firstlocation on the display; determine that the first end of the stylus isno longer proximate to the display; and present a processed underline onthe display underneath the word after presenting the raw underline. 13.The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 12,wherein: the word is part of an image caption; and the copying the wordfurther comprises copying an image related to the image caption to alocation on the page in the virtual notebook, wherein the location onthe page in the virtual notebook corresponds to a location of the imageon the display.
 14. The one or more non-transitory computer readablemedia of claim 12, instructions, which when executed by the one or moreprocessors, cause the one or more processors to snap the processedunderline to the word.
 15. The one or more non-transitory computerreadable media of claim 12, further comprising instructions, which whenexecuted by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processorsto: receive a command to present a thumbnail view of at least a portionof the virtual notebook on the display; and present at least one page ofthe virtual notebook on the display as a thumbnail.
 16. The one or morenon-transitory computer readable media of claim 15, further comprisinginstructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, causethe one or more processors to: receive input selecting the thumbnail;and present the at least one page of the virtual notebook at apre-determined size on the display.
 17. The one or more computerreadable media of claim 15, wherein the portion of the virtual notebookcorresponds to the word copied to the virtual notebook.
 18. The one ormore non-transitory computer readable media of claim 12, wherein thesubstantially similar location comprises substantially the same locationas the first location on the display.
 19. A device comprising: one ormore processors; one or more computer readable media coupled to the oneor more processors; a display coupled to the one or more processors andconfigured to render part of an item of content; one or moremagnetometers disposed about the device and coupled to the one or moreprocessors to detect a magnetic field associated with the display; and auser interface module stored in the one or more computer readable media,which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to: detect a selection by a stylus, of a portion of the itemof content rendered on the display, the portion being in a firstlocation on the display; determine a proximity of a first end of thestylus to the display based on data from the one or more magnetometers;present a raw underline underneath the portion; determine that the firstend of the stylus is no longer proximate to the display; present aprocessed underline underneath the portion after presenting the rawunderline; and copy the portion directly to a first location on a pagein a virtual notebook, wherein the first location on the page in thevirtual notebook corresponds to a substantially similar location to thefirst location on the display.
 20. The device of claim 19, wherein thedetecting the selection of the portion the item of content comprisesdetecting a user drawing a line along a vertical margin corresponding tothe portion the item of content.
 21. The device of claim 19, wherein theportion of the item of content comprises an image caption and the userinterface module, when executed by the one or more processors, cause theone or more processors to copy the portion of the eBook and an imageassociated with the image caption to a location on a page in a virtualnotebook, wherein the location on the page in a virtual notebookcorresponds to a location of the portion of the item of content and theimage on the display.
 22. The device of claim 21, wherein the rawunderline comprises an underline generated prior to removal of a contactwith the item of content detected by the one or more magnetometers. 23.The device of claim 19, wherein the user interface module when executedby the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to snapthe raw underline underneath letters of the portion.
 24. The device ofclaim 19, wherein the user interface module when executed by the one ormore processors, cause the one or more processors to: to receive acommand to present a thumbnail view of at least a portion of a virtualnotebook on the display; and at least partly in response, present athumbnail of at least one page of the virtual notebook on the display.25. The device of claim 24, wherein the user interface module whenexecuted by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processorsto: receive input selecting the thumbnail; and at least partly inresponse, present the at least one page of the virtual notebook on thedisplay.
 26. The device of claim 19, wherein the item of digital contentcomprises an eBook.